Glasgow Film Festival announces Margaret Tait Award winner
Published by Anne Marie Hughes on Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 22:10
Following a bumper year with audiences increasing by 12% and generating £1.4million for the Scottish economy, Glasgow Film Festival announces the 2011 winner of the Margaret Tait Award.
Glasgow-based artist Anne-Marie Copestake has been named winner of the 2011 Glasgow Film Festival Margaret Tait Award. Ann-Marie has been awarded a prize of £10,000 to create a new piece of work for the 2012 Festival.
Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said:
"We are thrilled that Anne-Marie Copestake's talent has been recognised through this award. The prize will allow Anne-Marie the time and resources to expand her creative practice and what better place to showcase her new work than at Glasgow Film Festival. We are delighted to have invested in both the Festival and the Margaret Tait Award."
Last year's winner Torsten Lauschmann presented his art installation/performance piece at Glasgow Film Theatre during GFF2011. This specially commissioned piece of work - At the Heart of Everything a Row of Holes - is now set to tour to Norwich, London and New York. The Margaret Tait Award is supported by Creative Scotland and LUX.
Glasgow Film Festival is pleased to announce that Creative Scotland, as part of their commitment to Glasgow Film as a Foundation Organisation, will be supporting the Margaret Tait Award for a further four years. This is very good news for the Festival and Scotland. It is essential that in times of economic turmoil we continue to invest in our artistic talent.
Glasgow Film Festival visitor figures reached a new high in 2011. The official evaluation of the Festival released this week shows a 12% increase in tickets sales. Glasgow Film Festival also brought £1.4million in economic benefit to the city during February.
The Glasgow Film team credits this success to a unique approach in working with audiences and filmmakers. Allison Gardner, Co-director of Glasgow Film Festival and GFT Head of Cinemas said:
"We've developed a truly collaborative way of working, opening up the Festival and GFT to local and international filmmakers, curators, young people, creative professionals and universities. It's helped us to produce an inventive and innovative programme of critically acclaimed screenings and events that consistently engage, inspire and inform."
Jaki McDougall, Chief Executive of Glasgow Film, added:
"2010/11 was a great year for us, not only were admissions up for the Festival, but GFT reached almost 190,000 admissions - that's more than 50% up on audience numbers achieved five years ago. Our challenge, and the challenge for many arts organisations in Scotland and across the UK, is to build on this success in the current economic climate."
